Esker, a worldwide leader in document process automation solutions and pioneer in cloud computing, today announced that it has become a member of GS1 France, the not-for-profit standards organization. Esker also announced new functionalities for processing orders received via electronic data interchange (EDI).

GS1, an international organization that develops and maintains standards for supply and demand chains via electronic exchanges, brings together more than 1 million business users worldwide, 90 percent of which are small to medium enterprises. GS1’s mission is to define standards for trade in order to give visibility to products and companies throughout the supply chain.

“EDI is a media of the future for electronic communication, particularly for processing customer orders,” said Eric Bussy, Director of Marketing and Product Management at Esker. “However, it can be construed as complex and difficult to access by many companies. Esker’s goal is to help companies in their transition to EDI by offering a simple and customized solution regardless of the size of their business.”

The Perfect Order

Considered by some to be the ideal communication method, EDI is not infallible. A 2014 study conducted by Esker and CXP Group, European’s leading independent research and advisory firm, shows that 70 percent of companies equipped with EDI are forced to manually reprocess orders every day. To address this problem, Esker developed its approach to EDI, specifically for order management, to make it simpler, more efficient and closer to taking the perfect order. The new features developed include:

  • Automatic error detection, which allows operators to correct them before the order is recorded in the ERP/business application
  • One unique platform to efficiently process all orders, regardless of how they are received (e.g., email, fax, paper, web portal or EDI)
  • Order visibility across all formats and channels via customized dashboards that provide up-to-date information on order status, identify priority orders, measure performance and accurately forecast.

“Today many businesses already use EDI, either by choice or at the request of a customer. We want to offer these businesses, plus those that have not already moved to EDI, a structured and easy-to-access offer, completely integrated with their existing solutions. Our GS1 membership, combined with new order processing functionalities, make Esker a particularly pertinent solution for all businesses no matter their size,” concluded Bussy.

About GS1

GS1 is a neutral, not-for-profit, global organization that develops and maintains the most widely used supply chain standards system in the world. GS1 standards improve the efficiency, safety and visibility of supply chains across multiple sectors. With local member organizations in over 110 countries, GS1 engages with communities of trading partners, industry organizations, governments, and technology providers to understand and respond to their business needs through the adoption and implementation of global standards. GS1 works with communities of trading partners, industry organizations, governments and technology providers and responds to their business needs through the adoption and implementation of global standards. GS1 is driven by over a million user companies, which execute more than six billion transactions daily in 150 countries using GS1 standards.

About Esker

Esker is a worldwide leader in cloud-based document process automation software. Organizations of all sizes use its shared platform of solutions, offered on-demand or on-premises, to automate accounts payable, order processing, accounts receivable, purchasing and more. Esker’s solutions are compatible with all geographic, regulatory and technology environments, helping over 11,000 companies around the world in their efforts to Quit Paper™.

Founded in 1985, Esker operates in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific with global headquarters in Lyon, France and U.S. headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin. Last year Esker generated 46.1 million euros in total sales revenue.

For more information on Esker and its solutions, visit www.esker.com. Follow Esker on Twitter at twitter.com/eskerinc and join the conversion on the Esker blog at blog.esker.com.